photo by Alexander Acosta Osorio

Discussions whether keeping radio AURA's license is healthy for AUBG were held in the past weeks. AURA has a debt of about $100,000 to AUBG, President David Huwiler said. After its last meeting on Nov. 23-24, the Board of Trustees (BoT) gave Huwiler the permission to sell the radio license, if needed. The license costs $20,000 per year.

The prime factor that caused brought up the issue was the audit done by Chronika, the firm that manages AUBG's internal audit, Huwiler said. While reviewing the radio documentation, Chronica stumbled on indicators for lack of compliance with the Bulgarian broadcast regulations and labor code. The radio has also failed to pay for rights to copyrighted materials, and has not been keeping adequate records, Huwiler said, adding that this may harm the university. "It is clear from the audit report that we do not have the expertise internally to manage the complex task of operating a broadcast radio station," Huwiler added.

He also said there has been a long-standing financial issue, as the university is subsidizing the radio. "When the administration takes student funds and earmarks them to fund a particular project without SG review, it deprives other students [and] projects of the opportunity to compete for those funds and bypasses the transparency that was built into the process," he said. Provost Cyrus Reed added that AUBG is spending a lot of money on a single activity: "The question is why do we provide extraordinary funding to one group and we don't provide it to other."

Reed added that several options have been discussed to solve the problem. "Selling the license of the radio is not the ultimate goal," he said, adding that AUBG is still looking for ways to ensure that students will have the opportunity to broadcast. "In order to solve the financial issue, the students from AURA have come up with a business plan."

The general manager of AURA, junior Tanya Pushkova, said that the radio team is working on attracting more listeners and sponsors in order to raise more money. In this way, she said, the media will become a more valuable asset for the university. "We are trying to find a new way out of the situation, something that will assure our long-term stability." Pushkova added that AURA is currently negotiating with potential sponsors that could advertise on the radio. "We are doing everything that is up to us."

Reed said that by now several entities have expressed interest in acquiring the license of AURA. Huwiler said that a professional broadcast group has offered to purchase the license, and also to allow students to broadcast for a certain number of hours. "That approach may resolve both issues," Huwiler added.

A possible solution the administration is considering is to switch to online broadcasting. Reed said that one of the problems with radio AURA is that its footprint - the region of Blagoevgrad - is comparatively small and thus reduces the size of the potential audience. This obstacle can be overcome by broadcasting online, Reed added. Online broadcasting could also allow more non-Bulgarian speaking students to get involved in the running of the radio, he said.

The final decisions on how to approach the situation will be made in the beginning of next semester. Still, AURA, created in 1992, will most likely continue to function the way we know it until the end of the academic year.